Multiple Language Installs

[BeagonBoy]

As bizarre as this may seem, I was wondering if it was possible to install both an English version and a German version of BG2 on the same computer without any side-effects. I'd still want to be able to play multiplayer on the English version with Ascension, for example. I've seen the 'Multi-Install Tool' but it doesn't seem to be what I'm after.

[Jarno Mikkola]

As bizarre as this may seem, I was wondering if it was possible to install both an English version and a German version of BG2 on the same computer without any side-effects. I'd still want to be able to play multiplayer on the English version with Ascension, for example. I've seen the 'Multi-Install Tool' but it doesn't seem to be what I'm after.

Well, I would say it isn't exactly... but what you can do is first install one and make sure to patch it and start a new game with it so it saves... then copy the whole game directory to another folder, then open and edit the new folders baldur.ini with Notepad, and redirect the [Alias] headers so they point to the new folder, you then start that game by creating and using short cut from the BGMain.exe(do not use the baldur.exe), while then you can uninstall the actual 'official install' and then install the other languages game...

 

This bypasses the Windows InstallShield cause you actually uninstall the official game.

Edit: small correction.

[Icendoan]

Wouldn't you just have to replace dialog.tlk, dialogf.tlk and baldur.exe to get the same effect each time?

 

Icen

[zefklop]

Then you would lack translated sounds. I think replacing NPCSound.bif should fix this.

[BeagonBoy]

Ok, I appear to have found a niftyish way around it. I finally got my copy of all of BG (BG, TotsC, SoA, ToB) in German today (It's in a compilation with all the Icewind Dale games called 'Die komplette Serie'). I soon discovered that trying to install them both on my main desktop was going to be difficult as the German CDs prompted the English autorun (even though for ToB the launching instructions appeared in German). I tried copying sound files directly from the German SoA CD and replacing (and backing up) their English counterparts. However, this only replaced part of the sounds - namely Irenicus, but Imoen and the golem at the start of the game still spoke English.

 

So I quickly made two ISOs (SoA and ToB come on each side of a two-sided disc in this version), got rid of BG2 from my netbook and installed these in it's place. The result was successful - I had a completely German version running on my netbook. So I examined the files regarding sound in 'data' on both my netbook and my desktop, checked for differences in size, and copied the following files from my German BG2 on my netbook to transfer onto my desktop:

 

25NpcSo.bif

CHASound.bif

CRESound.bif

DeSound.bif (This is a file found uniquely on the German version, and should probably be deleted when trying to revert to the English version of the game.)

MISSound.bif

NPCSoCD2.bif

NPCSoCD3.bif (This and NPCSound.bif were the only files to be found when looking in the 'data' section of the German SoA CD)

NPCSoCD4.bif

NPCSound.bif

 

I had already downloaded the appropriate dialog.tlk and dialogf.tlk files (These control the subtitles) from http://bgtlk.cpptea.com/ but I assume I could have simply copied them over from the German version too (English Version only has dialog.tlk, so anyone trying to mimic this in the future should remember to delete the dialogf.tlk file if they want to revert to English speech). Anyway, I backed-up the listed files above from the English version and replaced them in my 'data' folder with the German files instead. The result? At the start of a new game, Irencius, Imoen, the golem and Minsc all spoke in German and with German subtitles. Presumably I can reverse the process and flick between English and German at will.

 

I should note that I have not tested at all beyond speaking to Minsc with this setup. I have no idea what bugs might occur if you try this yourself. The desktop version of my BG2 has Ascension and the Wide Screen mod installed, but as I have not yet tried it at the Ascension part of ToB yet, I cannot say what conflicts may emerge if any. The German version on my netbook had the European ToB patch installed also. Presumably, this may work with any language version, but you will need either a copy of the other language version yourself or a willing friend who might upload the appropriate files for you (In a folder I have on my desktop, my 'English BG Sound Files' folder is 245mb and my 'German BG Sound Files' folder is 255mb.) The German dialog.tlk file is 9.74mb and the dialogf.tlk is 9.81mb, whilst the English dialog.tlk file is 8.38mb.

 

Again, I take no responsibility for what happens if you try the above method. Anyone else who does feel free to post your experiences here.